NHL: Gagne scores one day after rejoining Flyers

The Toronto Maple Leafs’ Dion Phaneuf, right, collides with the Montreal Canadiens’ Brendan Gallagher in their NHL game in Toronto, Canada, on Wednesday.

Photo: Reuters

Claude Giroux scored 23 seconds in, while Simon Gagne added a goal in his first game back with the Flyers as Philadelphia rolled to a 4-1 victory over the Washington Capitals on Wednesday night.

Wayne Simmonds gave Philadelphia a 2-0 lead less than four minutes later and Gagne scored his first goal of the season in the second period, one day after being reacquired by the Flyers from the Los Angeles Kings.

Max Talbot stretched the advantage to 4-0 in the second, chasing goalie Braden Holtby to the bench just one day following his home shutout of Carolina.

Ilya Bryzgalov made 23 saves and was in line for a shutout until Joel Ward tipped in his own deflection with 2 minutes, 9 seconds left to cut the Capitals’ deficit to 4-1.

Gagne had not scored since Nov. 17, 2011 — a span of 28 games.

Philipp Grubauer made his NHL debut in relief of Holtby and blanked the Flyers the rest of the way.

Gallagher scored his sixth of the season 9:08 into the third to break a 2-2 tie. Pacioretty cemented the win with his sixth goal — and second of the game — at 14:26. Gionta added an empty-net tally with 2:26 left.

Pacioretty also scored in the second period, while defenseman Alexei Emelin got Montreal on the board in the first period. Carey Price made 21 saves for his 11th win.

Frazer McLaren and Clarke MacArthur scored for Toronto (12-9), who have won three straight at home.

This victory was payback for the Canadiens (13-4-3), who were routed by the Maple Leafs 6-0 in Montreal on Feb. 9. Since then, the Canadiens have gone 7-0-2.

Montreal outshot Toronto 40-23.

Maple Leafs goalie Ben Scrivens made his eighth straight start and kept his club in the game, finishing with 35 saves.

KINGS 2, RED WINGS 1

In Los Angeles, Anze Kopitar scored the tiebreaking goal on a slick pass from Dwight King with 4:48 to play as Los Angeles rallied from a third-period deficit against Detroit for their fifth straight victory.

Jonathan Bernier made 32 saves for the defending Stanley Cup champions, who tied it with 9:34 left on Jeff Carter’s goal during a two-man advantage. King then made a spinning pass from the boards in front to Kopitar, who beat Jimmy Howard for his sixth goal of the season.

Howard stopped 27 shots for the Red Wings, who had won two straight after an 0-3-2 skid.

Kyle Quincey scored his first goal of the season on a misplay by Bernier in the first period.

Los Angeles are on their longest winning streak of the season, winning seven of eight overall after a 3-5-2 start to their title defense.

DUCKS 5, PREDATORS 1

In Anaheim, California, Kyle Palmieri ended a 10-game goal drought with his first NHL hat-trick. Viktor Fasth made 20 saves as Anaheim beat Nashville for their seventh straight home victory.

Nick Bonino and Saku Koivu also scored for Anaheim. Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf assisted on all three goals by Palmieri, who had not scored since netting back-to-back game-winners on Feb. 1 and Feb. 2 against Minnesota and Los Angeles.

Palmieri completed his outburst against Pekka Rinne 1:07 into the second period, during a power play after Nashville had too many men on the ice.

Anaheim (14-3-1) tied Montreal for the second-most points in the NHL behind Chicago’s 35. The Ducks have won seven of eight overall.